Cartridges for use with beverage forming machines are well known, and can include one or more filters as well as a beverage medium, such as ground coffee beans, tea leaves, etc. In some cartridges, the filter is located between two or more portions of an interior space of the cartridge, e.g., one portion in which a beverage medium is located, and a second portion into which liquid that has passed through the permeable filter can flow. An example of one such cartridge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,189 and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,762, which can be used with a beverage making machine like that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,398,726. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,840,189; 6,607,762; and 7,398,726, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their respective entireties.) In use, the beverage forming machine introduces a pressurized fluid into the cartridge to interact with the beverage medium. In some machines, a piercing outlet needle of the machine is used to pierce a surface of the cartridge (e.g., a bottom wall of the cartridge container or the cartridge lid) permitting the pressurized liquid that has interacted with the beverage medium to flow through the filter and exit the cartridge.
Known cartridges are limited in that they are configured to contain one or more dry beverage mediums. These cartridges incorporate a permeable filter and as such are incapable of containing ingredients that are suitable to create a beverage that requires both a dry beverage medium and a liquid beverage medium. For example, known cartridges are incapable of producing an “Irish Coffee” in which the ingredients are coffee and Irish whiskey and are formed by running water through dry coffee grounds and adding Irish whiskey. Because known cartridges are configured to use permeable filters between two or more portions of an interior space of the cartridge, e.g., one portion in which a dry beverage medium is located, and a second portion into which pressurized liquid that has passed through the permeable filter can flow, containing a liquid, such as alcohol, etc., in the second portion of the cartridge would permeate the filter and quickly spoil the beverage medium.
Accordingly it is desirable to provide a beverage cartridge that can contain dry beverage mediums and a liquid without mixing the multiple beverage mediums substantially prior to forming a beverage.